Another Look at Freemium for Association Memberships

According to Ever note CEO Phil Libin. ” The easiest way to get 1 million people paying is to get 1 billion people using”. The freemium membership model is a ” get them in the door” tactic which will pay off in the long run. For example in baseball games they sell cheap tickets. The freemium membership model follows the same model in that allows users to use the service for free to some extent and encourages users to sign up for a fee.

Key Takeaways:

Evernote, a poster child for the freemium model, is showing signs of struggle, but associations may be better equipped to make the buzzy business model work.

At the end of June, Evernote announced a price increase for its Plus and Premium plans, coupled with new limits to its free service.

Freemium, then, for associations is less about adopting a new business model than it is about conferring “member” status

“First, let’s acknowledge that freemium is but one variation on the basic “get them in the door” tactic, which has been used everywhere from baseball games (cheap tickets, expensive beer) to shopping malls (cheap picture with Santa, expensive gifts in the stores).”